The essays in this collection present
communities beset by unexpected social and physical events. Some
outline immediate responses that soon pass and some that will
not go away. Who would have foreseen that Elvis would be a phenomenon
apparently as lasting as the faces on Mount Rushmore? Cultural
history will not allow us to forget the H. G. Wells account of
the Martian attack, nor can we ever forget the continued terror
of the Chernobyl explosion. Ordinary Reactions to Extraordinary
Events catalogues on the Geiger counter of human emotions
societal reactions to events both earthshaking and culture-disturbing.

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